It’s been 12 years since Will Forte has been a cast member of Saturday Night Live, but it only felt like yesterday as soon as he took the stage to host the show for the first time.
In the opening monologue, Forte’s gift for insecure-yet-bombastic characters was once again on display. He listed off some of the great cast members he worked with back in the day – Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, Fred Armisen. Then, he listed off his fellow cast members who hosted the show before him… and that would be that whole list plus Seth Meyers. And, of course, John Mulaney, who was just a writer. “Save the best for last, right? Save the best for waaaaay last,” he says with faintly concealed anger.
Naturally, it isn’t long before he gets upstaged by one of those castmates when Wiig, his MacGruber co-star, puts in an appearance. Forte immediately shoos her off with a “Not a good time, not a good time,” and a little pettiness because she got more applause for her cameo than he did when he stopped by her hosting gig in 2016.
The SNL band makes things worse by trying to play him off the stage á la the Oscars, at which point Forte snaps and launches into a rant about the “idiots” who have hosted the show since he left — meaning, the same list of castmates as above. But the final nail in the coffin is showrunner Lorne Michaels’ reveal that Will wasn’t even supposed to host. Next week’s host, Willem Dafoe, pops up as Michaels admits, “I texted Willem and, you know… autocorrect.”
In a last ditch effort, Forte goes to the audience to decide if he should host and the poll shows him tied dead last with the option “Abandon show, bring back Tom Hanks” — which, honestly, should be an option for every poll about anything from here on out.
Watch clips below, and then tell us if you agree that Forte should have hosted a bit sooner than “last… way last.”
Will Forte’s Monologue! pic.twitter.com/MChfkDCGY8
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) January 23, 2022
The people love Will! pic.twitter.com/WriP4gEd0F
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) January 23, 2022